Microsoft is having none of cheeky Google Chrome Windows app

Yesterday, Google put out a Chrome app on the Windows Store. What a notion! A web browser that has a reputation of being a clunky resource hog would somehow be light enough to work on a Windows 10 S product — something that can’t run an executable file. Not so fast. Instead of being able to browse the web, the app was essentially just a splash page with a link to go and install the full version of Chrome from Google.

Microsoft put a quick end to the app’s existence on its Windows Store today, telling The Verge:

Those policies for an app made with the Centennial development bridge include the need to render anything web-based through HTML and JavaScript. Google has its own proprietary script called Blink. That’s among many reasons why Google likely won’t bring Chrome onto a Windows app.

What was also inferred with the “app” release was a combat tactic against spoofs, though the Microsoft app ecosystem is pretty tightly controlled and we haven’t seen any fake Chrome browsers pop up in the store.

Jules Wang is News Editor for Pocketnow and one of the hosts of the Pocketnow Weekly Podcast. He came onto the team in 2014 as an intern editing and producing videos and the podcast while he was studying journalism at Emerson College. He graduated the year after and entered into his current position at Pocketnow, full-time.